The present invention relates to a continuous automatic steel making method and facility, which melts steel using an electric furnace, refines molten steel in a ladle refining furnace, and casts the molten steel using a continuous casting machine.
In a conventional facility, the electric furnace, ladle refining furnace and continuous casting machine are independent machines, installed in separate places. For that reason, the movement of the ladle has to be accomplished manually, using an overhead crane, making it difficult to automate the steel making process. The facility also has problems such as creating a poor working environment due to dust or noise produced when steel making materials are charged into the electric furnace, and the high construction cost of equipment such as cranes, buildings, etc.
Moreover, with the continuous casting machine, which has been embraced in recent years from the viewpoints of productivity, energy saving, etc., there are fairly large fluctuations in the quality of molten steel fed by the electric furnace to the continuous casting machine, and this also influences the subsequent processes. Another problem with this machine is the difficulty of adjusting the tapping quantity, making it in turn difficult to supply molten steel of uniform quality, both continuously and with flexibility.